You Can Lead a Horse To Water…

There is a popular saying that goes “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” My interpretation of this is that you can provide someone with what they need but you can’t make them benefit from it unless they agree or accept the help.There are many styles of helping people. The first step is to provide people with what they need and that is just one approach. For people with mental illness this may mean being given access to a counselor, a self-help book or an exercise opportunity.

The tension mounts and there is a great opportunity for people to choose to get help. Sometimes we have to choose this more than once. This shows our interest and definite decisions involved in recieving the beneficial support offered.

When the time isn’t right, or the illness has got us down, or we are too busy we might decline the help. In this case there will hopefully be other times when help is offered. On the other hand if we agree to follow through with the help offered….. then we’re like the horse who takes a sip of water and we are on our way!

The Second Step is Using the Help offered

I was given the advice to make use of the mental health help I was given. This talk was given in a comforting way. During this talk I was told to use the best mental health helpers had to offer. This inspires me each time I think of it. I have spent much time asking questions of workers, having discussions with workers and reading material from mental health helpers. This communication has helped me to feel lighter, brighter and to have a greater understanding of myself.

I want to take this opportunity now to say that if someone leads you to water, by all means take a drink. This is only my opinion and there may be the odd time when it is not safe to take a drink. On the other hand taking a drink might mean relief, healing and support. Goodness knows, we all need a little bit of that!

Can You Take Part In Your Own Recovery?

It is interesting to encourage helpers to help you. It is empowering to ask for literature about coping skills. It is wonderful to talk about different internal conflicts. It’s like helping a counsellor undo a tight knot. Things become manageable. I am thankful for the workers that have used their interest, intellect and inspiration when they talk to me.

It is from these discussions that today I find myself with a voice to teach and value others. I hope that mental health becomes less of an obstacle and more of a challenge that can and will be overcome. We can do this by taking part in our own recovery. If there is a race to be run then we can’t just send someone else or we won’t make it across the finish line. Let’s run our own races. Even if it takes a long time, let’s celebrate as we reach our goals and cross our finish line.

Taking the metaphor one step further

Being led to water is something that I’ve experienced in my life numerous times. I just hope that as a I grow older I’ll still have the motivation to be like the horse who takes a sip. It feels good to believe in recovery and healing and just one sip will go a long way. Then we may be able to go for a relaxing and rejuvenating walk, write in a private journal or make a healthy but delicious meal. Afterall there are many actions that can benefit us when we are feeling upset.

We may, over time, be able to guide ourselves to water and take the drink that motivates us in our lives to find the friendships, schooling, volunteering or hobbies that we can learn from and enjoy. A person can advance enough to guide themselves to water and then take a long, cool, refreshing drink. Are you willing to quench your thirst?

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About friendofsnowflake

It is my pleasure to welcome you to my Blog! My name is Melanie and my nic-name Snowflake as you may already know. I'm excited to share some of my ideas and writings with you. It's interesting how psychological concepts can make things a little clearer. I have a psychology degree from the University of Waterloo. It is my hope that I can share some knowledge with you.
Some of my hobbies include playing piano, guitar, drawing and more recently beading. It also really interesting to recieve comments from the amazing people who read my Blog. I hope if you feel inclined that you will tell me a bit about yourself.
I would like to think that some special time spent off the net is also important for you or me. In this time you could sing or dance or just sit with a book.
In the mean-time it's nice to have met you because there is some quality time spent on the net. I hope you have had time to look at your favourite song or look up your favourite author. My favorite song is True Colour by Cyndi Lauper and my favourite author is Gretchin Rubin.
I feel gratitude that I can write this Blog. I hope you come back and see what new Blog is here over time. In the mean time have a great day and stay you!